


No More Dead Robins (or little Ladybugs)

by Runespour



Series: No More Dead Robins [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Gen, Jason Todd Feels, Jason Todd Has No Chill, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd is So Done, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:34:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22836349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runespour/pseuds/Runespour
Summary: Fresh out of the Lazarus Pit, Jason had one plan: Take up Talia on her inter-continental training montage until he was strong enough to take out Batman. When his training takes him to France however, Jason learns about the newest supervillian on the streets. Correction: The newest supervillain and superheroes. Seeing an untrained tiny thing flying around the city in red and black was a bit more triggering than he had expected. One dead Robin was more than enough for Jason and he is definately not going to let this little bundle of sunshine and rainbows end the same way he did.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Jason Todd
Series: No More Dead Robins [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641694
Comments: 165
Kudos: 1216





	1. Chapter 1

February 

Waking up in the morning never ceased to be a jarring thing these days. Probably because he wasn’t supposed to wake up at all. That, or the fact that the first time that he woke up since the . . . incident involved being waterboarded in a pit of green crazy-juice, with Talia fucking Al Ghul hovering over him. Still, the process of waking didn’t change all that much, he awoke without any noticeable change in breathing or movement to signal his awakening, and waited several more moments to ensure he was alone and not in imminent danger before opening his eyes and greeting the early morning. 

Jason did _not_ need an alarm clock, the beeping and digitized numbers had him putting several bullets into said alarm clock and scaring the shit out of some poor hotel employees several months ago. His internal clock never let him sleep for more than six hours and his nightmares never let him sleep for more than four. Judging by the position of the rising sun and the throbbing hangover he had, Jason was fairly certain he had slept for at least twelve. Though how much of the time he could count as sleep as opposed to poison induced hallucination was something else entirely. Either way, Jason rolled off his too small cot with a groan. Why did he ever wish to be tall? He had to either curl up his body to fit or lay with his feet hanging over the edge. It was _not_ comfortable, and he always woke with a nasty crick in his neck. 

Jason made his way into a suspicious bathroom, covered in stains and mildew that Jason was not ever going to touch. The owner of this pleasant abode was a master poison maker, who had all kinds of shit lying around the building that could easily kill him if he wasn’t careful. A stranger stared back at Jason in the dingy mirror. Baggy eyes, and an uneven, sad adolescent excuse for a beard, tied in with too long, too greasy hair, and what was probably quiet the stench made the stranger look horrifyingly similar to his mother before she passed away. 

Jason rinsed his face and changed. The jeans that Talia gave him three months ago were starting to ride up his ankles. It was more annoying than Jason had ever considered it would be. Jason looked like some sort of awkward beanstalk that was broaching 5’10’’ but had the weight of someone at least four inches shorter. He looked like an awkward angsty teenager, and the last time Talia had saw him, her lips twitched in a way that said _I’m clearly laughing at you and want you to know it too_. Talia was a fucking riot.

From there, Jason cautiously made his way to the kitchen. The table had several petri dishes laid out in carefully labeled rows. A window had been boarded up to prevent sunlight from affecting the results, and the only light came from a single bulb hanging from the ceiling. Edging around it all, Jason made it to the fridge and rifled through it. Ignoring all the test tubes, and meticulously labeled and sealed containers, Jason pulled out some milk. After checking the due date and sniffing it cautiously, Jason took a short sip straight from the carton. Jason waited another long moment and sighed when his fingertips began to tingle. 

Jason moved to a cabinet on the far end of the kitchen. It was fully stocked with hundreds of vials. Jason yawned as he dug through the set he was looking for. His migraine was intensifying rapidly as he pulled out a vial that had the correct label. From there, he held the vial up to the light, swirled it a couple times, and sniffed it for good measure. It was a fake. After pulling out three more seemingly identical vials, Jason found the actual antidote and set about finding a clean needle. Ten minutes later the tingling faded, but the new migraine was something truly hellish. 

Somewhere across the house, a door opened and closed. Jason sat down at a cleared spot of tablespace and dropped his head to rest on his arms.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” A feminine voice greeted him in French from somewhere behind him.

“Did you have to poison the milk? That was just mean.” Jason grumbled back in fluent French. 

“I laced the cups with a neutralizer. You only made yourself suffer by drinking from the carton like some sort of barbaric thug.” The voice tutted without a hint of remorse.

“What about the fake antidotes? I’m pretty sure at least one of those would have amplified it several times over if I took it? Why would you do that?” Jason grumbled. A petite hand patted his head.

“I am supposed to teach you. How can you learn if you do not experience consequences?” The sadistic evil woman replied gently as if comforting a small child. Jason shuddered. 

“Can you not?” He replied, grumbling.

“I’m sorry, did I hear you asking for _more_ resistance training this afternoon?” The woman asked, a smile in her voice. 

“Fuck that shit. I am good.” Jason bit back, still not raising his head. 

“It is such a shame I have business this evening, otherwise we could have so much _fun_. Maybe even work on your manors.” The voice sounded so sad, Jason just shuddered again. His current mentor was a master of poisons and a sadistic fuck. Jason knew he’d appreciate the immunities that Talia had him building up later, but right now it sucked balls. They’d recently discovered that the pit had somehow wrecked the immunities that he’d built up in Gotham, and that he’d needed to start from scratch. Talia rectified this by sending him to train with this fiendish creature that pretended to be a human being. Still, in the three months he’d been there, his immunities to, and knowledge of poisons had increased exponentially. 

“You said you were going to Paris right?” Jason asked nonchalantly. The woman hummed an affirmative. 

“Yes a particularly lovely scorpion, the _ottentotta tamulus_ , has come up for sale in Paris and I am very interested in purchasing a new male. Alice ate the last one that I mated to her.” The woman sounded genuinely disappointed by that. Jason found himself shuddering a third time.

“May I come?” Jason tried to ask as politely as possible. She would often let him accompany her if only to take pleasure in Jason being trapped in an enclosed vehicle for several hours on end with her. Jason however, hadn’t been to Paris before and honestly wanted to see it, even if he had to catch a ride with _her_. 

“Of course not.” The woman chuckled, as if Jason had requested something preposterous. Jason frowned, braced himself, and glanced back at the woman. His migraine throbbed at the reintroduction of light to his eyes. 

“Why not?” Mirthful silver eyes bore into him. 

“Do you not watch the news? There is a new villain in Paris who preys on those with weak control over their emotions.” Jason was instantly insulted.

“I have complete control of myself.” He grumbled in protest. The woman smiled, and reached out, caressing his cheek with a look that said he was adorably incompetent. 

“Anton dear, you have the emotional control of a two-year-old. You would be victimized by the villain within an hour. You are a rage-filled, angry child.” She tutted him and tapped him on the nose reproachfully. Jason saw green for a moment but had learned his lesson about challenging her three months ago.

“I. Have. Full. Control.” Jason bit out, furious at the insult. The woman smiled brightly.

“Of course you do sweetheart, I already regret doubting you.” Her voice was so condescending that Jason wanted to bust her stupid teeth in. His migraine throbbed something fierce, and Jason found that he could be mad when his head hurt this bad. 

“I can control myself for a single afternoon.” Jason grumbled. The woman’s eyes lit up.

“Would you like to bet on that?” She asked delightedly, Jason knew better than to bet against her. Jason _knew better_.

“Sure.” He replied, never one to back down from a challenge, even when he really should.

“What is the wager, my dear?” The woman’s eyes sparkled at this new plan.

“I make it in and out of the city without attracting this villain's attention.” Jason replied, slowly sinking into the hole he dug himself.

“Of course and what do you want out of this little bargain?” The fact that she didn’t even try to renegotiate the wording meant that Jason was fucking himself over. But his mouth kept going without his permission. 

“The recipe for _nuit silencieuse._ ” As soon as he uttered the words, her smile dropped momentarily. It came back as something far more fierce and predatory. Jason was in too deep to back out, so he didn’t rescind his offer.

“Oh silly boy, that does not exist.” Bullshit. Rumors spoke of a completely untraceable poison created by her that gave no symptoms, warnings or signs of any kind. The victim simply got more and more tired until they went to sleep, at which point they would never wake up. 

“Well, if you win it wouldn’t matter anyway.” Jason tried to keep a cool head.

“Well then my dear, if you would like to wager something so mythical that it does not even exist, then you must be willing to offer something particularly sought after in return.” _Fuck_. She had her smile that made Jason want to curl up and die again. 

“What would you be asking for, if you were to wager the recipe?” Jason needed to stop talking.

“Well, nothing quite so dramatic you see. A small thing in return.” Jason’s warning bells were going off.

“All I want, is my debt to Talia considered paid, in full, effective immediately.” She finished sweetly. _Shit_.

“You know that I can’t make no deals on behalf of Talia. It doesn’t work like that.” Jason quickly, suddenly feeling trapped in the chair with that woman behind him. She tutted.

“Anton, you are her student, her prodigy, it is your duty to speak on her behalf when she is unavailable. It is such a little thing, controlling yourself for one afternoon. Imagine what she would say when she discovers that you had a chance at _nuit silencieuse_ and were too afraid to take it.” She said _when_ not _if_. Talia would kill him if he accepted and kill him if he refused. Talia would kill for even trying to wager something with this woman. Jason was so _fucked_. 

“I am not too afraid to take it. You have a deal.” Jason nearly whimpered at the shark-like smile that spread across her face. 

. . .

As soon as the woman parked her nondescript car, Jason was banished to Paris for the evening with strict instructions not to come back until 11pm. The woman also mentioned, with a pleased smirk, that if her debt to Talia was cleared, his apprenticeship would be void and she would not be taking him back with her. Thanks to those lovely words, Jason had deigned to take his duffle bag (which contained everything he owned) with him on this excursion.

That left Jason with nearly six hours to kill in Paris. Despite, the ultimatum hanging over his head, Jason could honestly say that he was excited to be there. After locking up his shit in a locker at the bus station, Jason made his way to the Eiffel Tower to begin his tourist trip through the city of love. Unfortunately, he’d barely gotten a glance at it when the screaming started. 

A man dressed in a bright orange costume was flying overhead in a cloud of flames. He would occasionally stop and point at something, shout what might be _you’re fired_ and whatever he was pointing at would promptly burst into flames. What the _fuck_? Jason stared for a long moment, as he ran around _firing_ every inanimate object he could find. Then Jason saw something that had his whole body stiffening. A tiny red and black figure flew through the sky on a string, colliding mid-air with the supposed villain. That wasn’t Robin. that wasnt robin. thatwasntrobin. thatwasntrobinthatwasntrobin. Thatwasnt- wait. It was a girl. A little girl in a red and black polka dotted body suit. _What the fuck_?

Jason stared as she and the villain did battle, cringing at the puns and staring in horror as she was beaten down multiple times. Where was that girl’s guardian? Why was no one else concerned that a pipsqueak was taking on a supervillain by herself. Why the _fuck_ did no one teach her how to fall correctly? 

“Jesus Christ.” Jason muttered, staring in abject horror as she summoned an oversized hearing aide to defeat the bad guy. What the absolute fuck.

“Isn’t she amazing?” A lovestruck man that had to be at least three times that pipsqueak’s age sighed.

“What?” Jason growled at him, he looked confused.

“Ladybug? Paris’s savior and hero? Greatest superhero in France?” The man seemed confused.

“You mean that pipsqueak is the first line of defense? She isn’t like, a sidekick in training?” Jason asked, horrified. The man seemed offended now.

“Of course not. Ladybug is amazing. Her and Chat Noir are more than capable of defending the city and defeating Hawkmoth.” The man argued. Jason felt relief rush through him.

“So she does have someone protecting her.” Jason breathed out.

“Yeah there he is now. Chat Noir!” The crowd cheered as a just as fucking tiny _boy_ entered the fray, dressed like a Catwoman wannabe. 

“That’s not- How is that better?” Jason choked out as the kid rattled off more puns than constructive assistance to the tiny thing who was desperately dodging fire attacks now aimed directly at her. The man was clearly saying more, but Jason could only stare in horror as Ladybug took a nasty hit that sent her careening away and into a car, _which she dented_. As she laid there stunned, the fire guy pointed at her, ready to burn her alive. Acting on instinct, Jason scooped up a nearby piece of rubble and hurled it at the fire dude, regretting the fact that his gun was locked up at the bus station immensely. His aim was true and the rock slammed into the man’s arm. The car next to Ladybug burst into flames. Angry fire guy turned toward the crowd, ready to set them all ablaze in his fury, but Chat Noir was slamming into him. He was a second too late to help his partner, but at least he stopped the guy from roasting the crowd of stupid fucking onlookers alive. 

Seriously, Jason took in the fact that most people were just standing and watching, filming the whole encounter on their phones. Holy hell did all of Paris have a death wish? Jason was about to start shouting at people to clear the fuck out, when ladybug snatched a ring off the man’s hand. Jason missed her getting back up. The crowd cheered as she smashed the ring, caught a purple fucking butterfly that flew out of it, and released a glowing white one moments later. Then she threw the oversized hearing aid into the air and it erupted into a swarm of magical ladybugs, that flew around the city, putting out fires and fixing everything. Jason wondered if maybe he was high. Maybe that psychotic woman drugged him with something particularly trippy. But no. Apparently, this was reality.

The rage slowly returned as he stared at all the people celebrating Ladybug and Chat Noir’s victory. He found an internet cafe and felt his blood slowly boil as he researched the duo. They were clearly untrained kids who had no idea what they were doing. What’s worse, the city seemed to actively celebrate and approve of what they were doing. They had only been around for a handful of months, but damn. Batman wouldn’t let kids with ten times as much training as these kids had, and he let under trained Robins into the field all the fucking time. The final straw was when he found a video of their first fight. The duo had no clue how to even use their powers. Jason suddenly felt the need to vomit. Ladybug was flying over the rooftops, with _no safety net_ , on a grappling hook she didn’t know how to use, with _no acrobatics training_. 

Rushing out of the building, Jason found himself losing his dinner in a nearby alley. His vision was starting to turn green, and he wanted to punch something. Preferably the Mayor or the police who allowed these kids out of their homes without a stern lecture and some fucking bubble wrap. 

Jason clutched his head, curling up on the ground, a few feet away from his vomit. These kids were going to _die_. Jason had thought he would never have to see another dead Robin, but this. This was worse. That little bundle of sunshine was going to _die_ and this city was just going to sit by and cheer on while she charged toward her fate. 

“Watch out!” A familiar voice shouted, interrupting his horror. He glanced up, ready to punch someone, and saw a dark purple butterfly get snatched up by a yoyo inches from his face. Jason stared uncomprehendingly at the tiny girl. She did something to the creature then waved her the little butterfly away once it was cleansed.

“Are you okay monsieur?” The girls sounded deeply concerned for him. Jason scowled at her.

“I’m fine.” He bit out. In response, the girl sat down cross-legged in front of him and pulled out her yoyo. He stared in bafflement as she pulled out a freaking cookie, and offered it to him. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked with an innocent smile, lacking any judgment. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He retorted, furious again.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, genuinely confused, she cocked her head like a confused fucking puppy.

“Didn’t your parents ever warn you about stranger danger?” He found himself demanding. Ladybug blinked and smiled.

“I’m a pretty good judge of character. I think you're fine.” Her words oozed confidence.

“I’m a fucking criminal. I am a bad person. Your judgment is awful.” He retorted, incredulous. 

“Well everyone has rough patches here and there. I’m not going to judge you for them, are you sure you don’t want a cookie? I made them myself.” _Jesus Christ_. The girl was so earnest. She honestly believed that there was nothing wrong here. He stared blankly for a long moment before sighing and snatching up the cookie. He didn’t have water, and he needed to swallow something right now to get the nasty taste out of his mouth. She beamed like the goddamned sun. 

“Do you like it?” She asked eagerly.

“It's alright.” Jason grumbled, you’d think he gave it a glowing five-star review by the way she smiled.

“So can you tell me why you were upset?” She asked coaxingly, pulling out a second fucking cookie, like she could bribe him into revealing all his secrets. Jason glowered. She held out the cookie. Jason glowered harder. She inched closer, still holding out the cookie. Jason snatched it away before she could use it as an excuse to get closer to him. 

“It’s nothing you can help with.” He grumbled as he ate the cookie.

“Are you sure?” Ladybug eagerly reached into her apparently tardis yoyo and began pulling out flyers and business cards.

They were for community centers, group therapy, and self-help talks that covered everything from drug addiction, to depression, to financial help classes, to food pantries, to couples counseling, to LGBTQ+ groups, to pamphlets declaring that ' _no one but can decide when you are ready to retire_.' 

“What the fuck?” Jason stared in amazement. Ladybug smiled at him.

“I try to have something for everyone and if I don’t have what you need, I bet we can work together to find you what you need.” She bubbled enthusiastically. 

“My problems can’t be solved by fucking therapy.” Jason snarled, despite a voice sounding suspiciously like Black Canary disagreeing vehemently in his head. Ladybug smiled.

“Well, why don’t you start by telling me what’s wrong. Sometimes, just talking about what’s bothering you is all you really need. Besides, I’m Ladybug. Your secrets are safe with me.” She gave him such an open and honest smile, that Jason could hardly look at her. It was likely looking directly into the sun. 

“You really wanna know what's eating me?” Jason finally asked. She nodded silently, as if making any kind of noise would change his mind.

“You’re a fucking kid.” He said bluntly. Ladybug blinked, eyes widening in surprise and flailed her hands.

“I’m sorry monsieur, but you are super mistaken. I am an adult who has an adult life and does all sorts of adult things.” She started rambling. Jason rolled his eyes and interrupted her.

“Kid if you're older than thirteen, I’ll eat my shoe. Where I come from, teenie-boppers are not allowed to fight criminal masterminds without help and definitely not without some serious training.” The girl started sputtering excuses, looking like a startled puppy that was tripping over its own paws. Jason interrupted her again, before her rambles could get even more unintelligible. 

“You can’t even fall correctly. That’s like ultimate basics kiddo.” Jason remarked judgmentally. That had her pause and squint at him.

“What do you mean fall correctly? How do you fall correctly? Isn’t falling just an overall mistake?” She looked so confused. Jason sighed.

. . .

Somehow, Jason ended up on an empty rooftop, spending the rest of the afternoon and evening explaining the basics of how to fall without hurting herself. He long since finished demonstrating, and they’d been practicing for the past two hours. At this point, Jason was shoving her in various creative ways that had her learning to roll from a multitude of directions. She was sweating up a storm even though the cool air was rather pleasant compared to Gotham. Every time he called a break, she would sit down, and bombard Jason with questions about falling that he hadn’t even thought to address. She was a damned eager puppy and absorbed information like a sponge. She was so eager to have some sort of advice it was a freaking tragedy. Worst by far was when he suggested calling it quits. She looked so heartbroken, before cautiously asking if they could do this again sometime. When he told her that he was leaving town that night, she looked like she was gonna fucking _cry_. 

This somehow led to him agreeing to let her walk him back to the parking garage where his ride was. When he scaled the side of the building without equipment, she looked so starstruck, Jason honestly felt bad he couldn’t teach her more. Alas, he had his goals and his own apprenticeship to worry about not dying over- _fuck_. 

Jason let out a string of curses and rushed over to the spot where the car had been parked. Ladybug followed like an anxious puppy, asking what was wrong. The car was fucking gone. Gone. All that remained was a piece of paper taped to the cement wall of the complex.

_I won the bet,_

_X_

That’s all it said. Jason replayed the evening's events in his head. Right before Ladybug showed up, a purple butterfly had nearly attacked him. What was the exact wording of his bet? _I make it in and out of the city without attracting this villain's attention._ When had he- Right. The butterfly had definitely been him attracting attention. Hell, she could have even counted him throwing that rock at the dumbass supervillain attracting attention. 

Jason groaned. Talia was going to murder him.

“Are you okay?” Ladybug’s voice interrupted his panic before it could spiral. 

“Yeah. My ride ditched me, and my plans went with her. So I guess I could stick around for a few days after all.” Jason replied with a sigh. Ladybug looked torn between hopeful and horrified.

“They just _left_ you?” She demanded. 

“Yup.”

“That’s not okay!” Ladybug began to devolve into another rant about how you don’t treat people that way. Jason snapped his fingers in front of her face to get her attention. Her rant cut off into a startled blink.

“Okay Sunshine, any idea where I can get a cheap hotel for the night?” He asked instead. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times in surprise. 

“You’re going to change your plans just like that?” She asked.

“Well, I don’t have anything better to do. And you need a _lot_ of help kiddo.” Jason shrugged. Ladybug stared for a long moment, she kind of looked like Jason had just offered her the moon and the stars. The disbelieving awe almost made him uncomfortable.

“You’ll really help train me?” She asked. That look couldn’t stay. He swept her into a headlock and wrecked her hair in a noogie. 

“Of course kiddo. Your hopeless.” Jason teased as she squeaked and tried to escape.

“We’re adding grappling to the things that you need to work on ASAP.”


	2. Chapter 2

April 

Marinette sprawled out on her bed, a complete and utter wreck. Ever since J had started helping her three weeks ago, her life seemed like non-stop chaos. J had given her a typed itinerary that she was required to follow. J expected her to get up _early_ and _jog_. It was disgusting and horrifying, and awful. Next, he gave her a _diet_. She had to eat _healthy_ , and twice as much as what she was eating before. Finally, she met with him _every day_ after school and he always knew if she cheated on her new exercise schedule or diet. She’d tried to get Chat to come but he was too busy to find time to meet up with them, claimed that he was already on a diet, and had an intense workout schedule so he didn’t have time or need some stranger’s help. 

Whatever. Marinette was not upset about it. Not at all. 

Marinette could not believe the progress she’d made. In the three weeks that they’d been working two hours every day after school. So far, she had only learned how to fall, and how to dodge, but the difference was mind-blowing. She took, maybe an eighth of the hits she did before. And the only reason she hadn’t taken more hits before was that she was extremely lucky. The more they practiced, the more she realized how much she had been relying on luck to not get hit until now. She also realized that Chat was far better at intentionally avoiding hits than her, but was super unlucky. J said that he probably played some sort of agility based sport.

Marinette had made it to basic middle school athlete levels. yay. 

They finished up for the day over an hour ago, and Marinette could feel her body slowly turning to jelly. Her pocket vibrated. She pulled out the small flip phone and checked the message.

From Unknown 18:09: Changing location, don’t forget to do your homework kiddo

Marinette rolled her eyes. She was starting to believe that J might not be a criminal, he might actually be some sort of teenage secret agent. He moved hotels every three days and had like five fake IDs. He gave her a sketchy burner phone that had its GPS services completely disabled _and_ a cheap domino mask. Marinette had made a better one within two hours. Apparently, Jason wanted her to train without superpower cheats but valued her secret identity. This had led to an enlightening conversation between Tikki and J, where J basically interrogated Tikki about the magic protecting the wearer’s ID. Apparently, as soon as she de-transformed, J was able to instantly notice several tells about her age, ethnicity, accent, and mannerisms that he hadn’t before. Tikki was alarmed by J at first, but somehow, Tikki was now his biggest fan, and advocate for the homework he gave her. 

To Unknown 18:10: Hey I am fully capable of remembering my homework! Let me know when you have a new location

The longer she trained with Jason, the more she realized how lucky she was. The series of events started with her running out of time before she made it home so she had to walk even though she was tired. Then she had just happened to glance up from when the Akuma flew far overhead. If she hadn’t seen that Akuma, she would have never met J and never gotten his training. That, and J was on another level than her. J had her attack him with literally everything she had, and he had spent the next thirty minutes viciously dropping her on her butt. He had been going easy on her too. The idea of fighting him as an akumatized villain was honestly more horrifying than anything she could even imagine.

J was also introducing her to strategy and military tactics bit by bit. The more she learned, the more she realized that if Hawkmoth akumatized anyone who was not a civilian, they were screwed. Sabrina’s dad was bad enough and he had tunnel vision. If he had been a serious police officer, rather than a cop focused solely on preventing minor ticketable offenses, things would have gone south real fast. Marinette sighed and glanced around her room. The photos of Adrien were all gone, a calendar detailing her homework and sewing schedule now dictated her life. The idea of J finding out she had a stalker crush that caused her to trip and stutter was embarrassing and horrifying. Plus he would probably assign her homework that would require her to interact with him as much as possible until she could get her act together and have a straight face in front of him. 

Marinette had also discovered that having a crush on Adrien was _exhausting_ when she no longer had free time. The pull-down map of Adrien’s schedule had been replaced with a pull-down map of the city of Paris. Marinette had started plotting locations of akumas on her map with different colored stickers. Red for where they were akumatized, and blue for where they were defeated. Marinette had been using Alya’s blog to backtrack steadily. Instead of spending her free time researching Agreste fashion, most of her time was spent researching akumas and practicing Hacking. Jason had given her a basic tutorial and had her practicing hacking and coding in her free time. This left Marinette with very little time and she had to choose between researching Adrien and researching fashion. When given the choice, Marinette inevitably found fashion more important.

Marinette also found herself torn between spending her time training, studying, and socializing with her friends. Somewhere along the way, she started scheduling hangout time days in advance. She hadn’t decided to spontaneously go somewhere with Alya or another classmate since before she met J. 

As if sensing her harried thoughts, her phone went off, an alarm informing her that she had forty-five minutes to shower and make it to a movie that their whole class was going to see. Marinette sighed and seriously considered texting the group to cancel. J had lectured her on the importance of sleep with her schedule, and, with the exception of akuma attacks, she was explicitly forbidden from being awake after midnight for any reason. 

Marinette sighed and changed into her more fashionable clothes. Ever since her training started, she had designed and created an entire wardrobe of workout clothes. The restriction of movement brought about by her regular clothes had never bothered her before Jason pointed out that her agility and flexibility were her greatest strengths. Now Marinette found herself uncomfortable with the idea of needing to run and not being able to.

Before, her life could be divided into two time periods, before Ladybug, and Ladybug. Now Marinette divided her life into before Ladybug, Solo Ladybug, and Ladybug with J. Marinette finished changing and stuffed cookies into her bag. She started thinking about contingencies more often, and Marinette made sure to have at least enough cookies for Tikki to transform five times. 

On her way out, she made sure to pass through the bakery so that she could tell her parents that she was going out with her friends. They noticed that she was not going out as much and she was trying to reassure them that she was fine and happy. This was the busiest and most careful she had ever needed to be in her life, but she had never been happier.

. . . 

May 

Jason woke with a start. He yanked his gun from under his pillow and pointed it at the intruder. Talia Al Ghul stepped into the moonlight. _Shit_.

“Hello, Jason. I had a talk with our mutual friend, she had some interesting things to tell me about how you two parted.” Jason withheld a cringe at her tone. She was _pissed._

“Hey it was a calculated risk and the possible rewards were worth the risk.” Jason refuted.

“A chance that you blew to throw a rock at a two-bit villain. Tell me, Jason, how far do you think my patience will get you?” She asked softly, her tone deadly. Internally, Jason was relieved, that meant they probably didn’t know about Ladybug. 

“I can assure you, Talia, it will not happen again.” Jason spoke softly, knowing that subservience was the best way to get out of this alive.

“Of course it won’t. You have another tutor lined up in Hamburg. If you embarrass me again, I will not extend my resources to you any further. I have risked much for you, child. Do not forget this.” Talia dropped a thick file onto his bed and left. Jason took a moment to remember how to breathe and turned on a soft light to begin reading. Oh, joy. He was going to learn to make bombs next. There was a train that he had to be on in. . . three hours.

Ladybug was not going to like this. He pulled out his phone and sent her a text with a meeting point in two hours. She would be there. Then he packed everything he owned back into his duffel and turned his keys into the hotel. Jason raced around the city to secure several safe houses and caches of equipment for future use before making it to the meeting exactly on time. Ladybug was already waiting for him, shifting anxiously.

“What’s wrong?” She demanded as soon as she saw him. 

“I have to leave town kiddo.” He started and paused at her thunderstruck expression.

“So suddenly? When will you be back?” She started to fret. Jason hesitated and he could tell she knew where this was going.

“I don’t know if I’m coming back lil’ bug.” He muttered, not willing to lie or get her hopes up. 

“Where are you going?” She asked after a moment of processing.

“It’s better if you don’t know where.” Jason felt something in him shrivel up and die at her expression. 

“Can I still text you? Can we trade emails? Even if we can’t train anymore?” She asked with a desperate expression.

“Course we can, Bug. I can’t promise that I’ll always be able to answer right away, but we don’t have to lose touch.” 

“Okay! Um. When are you leaving?” She asked nervously, the clever bug already knew the answer to that too.

“As soon as we finish up here. Which needs to be pretty soon.” Jason replied honestly. 

“Oomph” Jason wrapped his arms around the red and black mass of quivering teenage girl that slammed into him. While hugging was a relatively rare thing for him, Ladybug thrived off of physical contact and reassurance. 

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou.” She muttered into his chest. 

“I know, Bug. I know.” he rubbed her shoulders.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I learned so much from you.” Ladybug muttered.

“You got by pretty well without me Bug. You’re stronger than you know.” Jason murmured and ruffled her hair. After several minutes, Jason released her and made eye contact.

“We’ll keep in touch. Go kick Hawkmoth’s ass.” Jason ruffled her now wrecked hair one last time. She gave him a watery smile and nodded.

“Thank you J. Be safe.” She muttered.

“Hey, you’re the one going off to fight a supervillain without me. Be safe yourself.” Jason grumbled.

“Now I need to get going.” Jason decided firmly.

“Bye J.” She muttered sadly.

“Bye Bug.” Jason replied with a smile. 

Then he scaled down the building they were on and slipped off into the night.

. . . 

September 

Jason sat in a dark warehouse on the outskirts of Vienna, checking his watch. With a deep sigh, He glanced around and felt a smile creep onto his face as a bright light filled the space. A hole between spaces opened. A young girl dressed in a silver and brown costume stepped through. The portal closed and a moment later the girl de-transformed, leaving behind Ladybug. She was dressed in a hoodie, leggings, and her homemade domino mask. Almost immediately, her two Kwami companions began circling her. Bug dutifully fed Kaalki a sugar cube, before greeting Jason with a hug.

“Hey there kiddo how’s Paris?” Jason asked as if he wasn’t getting constant updates from the girl.

“Um pretty okay.” She muttered, looking down. Jason frowned.

“Don’t give me that shit, tell me what happened.” He demanded gruffly.

“Well, there was this new girl at school this week. And she was kind of lying to everyone. Like just for attention. She started telling everyone that she knew Ladybug and using it to get everyone to fawn over her. And there was this boy, the one I was telling you about.” She paused at Jason’s raised eyebrow.

“The best friend that you _like like_?” The way he said the last part made her scowl.

“Stop saying it like that! But yes. We’re super good friends now and if he wants to date other people I get that you know? I haven’t asked him out and we have a really good friendship that I’m not ready to risk right now. But this girl. She just. Agh. She just kind of hung off him, lying about her relationship with Ladybug to get him to like her and then she asked him out. Like in a date kind of way and I just _lost it_ . The idea that she was using falsehood about _me_ to coerce him into a relationship with her was too much. So I kind of transformedandfollowedthem.” Ladybug mumbled the last part but Jason caught every word. Both eyebrows went up. Ladybug looked so embarrassed now.

“I know! I shouldn’t have done that but I wasn’t thinking at the time. Anyway, I ended up losing my cool even _more_ and sort of called her out on her lies in front of the boy. Then she ended up getting _akumatized_ and I felt like a horrible person so I apologized to her as Ladybug afterward and told her that people would like her even without the fantastic tales and name drops. But then she left school and hasn’t been back since. I feel like an awful person.” Ladybug mumbles.

“Kiddo. Look. You made a mistake and apologized for it. Are you going to do it again?” He asked, seriously. The little bug looked horrified at the very thought.

“Of course not!” She exclaimed.

“Well, there you go. It's in the past now and you can’t do shit about it, but you can learn from it. Don’t be a dumbass who uses superpowers for civie shit and you’ll be fine. Lesson learned.” Jason knew he was being blunt, but Bug preferred hearing his honest opinion over placating bullshit and Jason was never one to disappoint. 

“I guess you're right…” Bug trailed off, looking lost in thought. Jason took that moment to sweep her legs out from under her and catch her arm before she could flail into the concrete. 

“Of course I’m right. I’m always right. Now get your head out of your ass and warm up. We got two hours tops and you clearly need a spar so you quit spacing and I promised to teach you that grappling technique tonight. Get your ass in gear.” Jason ordered, channeling his inner asshole. It wasn’t hard. 

Ladybug bit back a snarky remark and got to work, going through her stretches with the enthusiasm that never truly left her. They had only started up in-person training less than a month ago. Before that, it was all community classes and youtube lessons. Ever since she picked up Kaalki, they had started meeting in person again. She started joining him just after he settled in Vienna to work on his hand to hand-to-hand. Something about her cheery happy demeanor eased the pain of getting the shit beat out of him every day. Jason was also just self-aware enough to notice that normally bubbling rage that fueled his every breath seemed to cool when he tutored her on how to be a superhero. 

What was his life? He spent his days learning to kill people and training to murder the Dark Knight of Gotham and his nights helping a peppy pre-teen be a better superhero by listening to her vent about boy troubles. Well, it was fair to also consider that if she worked on dealing with her feelings in Paris, she ran the risk of being akumatized. Then everything would be over. So maybe that wasn’t as terrible as it originally sounded in his head. He also helped her train. Jason thought as he inspected her stretches. Jason gave her the full flying Grayson stretch routine. It was dangerous if she did them wrong, or pushed herself too much, but she absolutely needed every edge she could get and Jason trusted her to do exactly what he said. He winced as she contorted herself into an odd stretch that he had only ever seen Dick manage before. She hadn’t started early enough to ever fully match Dick, but with her magical edge, she came pretty damn close.

Her body had adjusted to his training far quicker than it should have, and after interrogating Tikki, Jason discovered something. Long term miraculous users would naturally become quicker, stronger, and more agile than the average human. They would slowly be able to jump farther and build stamina until their unenhanced body packed a far deadlier force than the average human. Tikki had said that users in the past who trained themselves like Jason was training Bug ended up even more enhanced in the end. That had led to a conversation with Bug about the long term. Being enhanced for the rest of her life was not necessarily a blessing. Jason felt he explained the risks of being enhanced fairly well and was also peeved that whoever gave her the miraculous wasn’t having his conversation with her. 

This kid really shouldn’t be the bug, but Jason honestly couldn’t imagine any adult doing a better job than her at this point. He wasn’t sure that there was a human being who was as brave, kind, and spirited as her. He was still bitter that he was the only one training her, but he’d take that up with the guardian if he ever met the cagey bastard.

“So how’s the investigation going?” Jason asked casually. She grinned up at him.

“Great actually! I ended up talking to the police and they do have a special task force dedicated to Hawkmoth just like you guessed. I even managed to get them to share their data with me. I’m adding time between stressor and time of akumatization to my map. I crossed a couple off my suspects list this week too! But I also added a couple people to the list so the size hasn’t changed much.” Bug began going into details on her current suspects while she finished her stretches. Jason just listened, adding bits of advice here and there.

“How’s the grid coming?” Jason asked next. Bug’s face fell.

“It’s really hard. I’m trying, but even with what you gave me, getting a Paris wide surveillance grid up is going to take _years_. Heck, it would have taken _decades_ without your help.” Bug replied, sounding disappointed.

“One day at a time Bug. You don’t get anything on par with what the Justice League has overnight.” Jason reminded her. Bug’s most ambitious project was currently setting up a Paris wide grid to track akumas and give her an early warning when a little demonfly is spotted. Jason was able to give her everything he knew on Batman’s set up as a starting point, but it wasn’t nearly enough considering that she needed it now. 

They set aside talk for the time being and spent the next hour sparring. He was finally starting to work up a light sweat from their spars which was great progress, he thought as he glanced at the exhausted teenager on the ground.

“What’s eating you kid? There’s something else distracting you that you're not telling me.” Jason pulled his patented your-talking-bullshit look and waited for the kid to spill her guts to him. It didn’t take much. The girl was basically an open book. It was almost refreshing if it wasn’t for the fact that she had alarmingly easy tells.

“Well. It’s not really anything that I can do anything about.” Bug looked down anxiously. Jason waited for her to continue.

“It's just. Whenever I invite Chat to train with me, he thinks it's a date, even when I tell him it's not a date. Then he gets mad at me for leading him on. Then he sulks and shows up late to akumas. So I stopped inviting him to train with me, I thought maybe if I kept it strictly professional he would be better in the field. But then he sulks because I’m not inviting him to hang out with me. He’s a really nice guy, but he’s childish. He doesn’t take this seriously like you and the guardian do. So I changed my approach and thought maybe trying to figure out who Hawkmoth was with him would help. That way we could sit down and maybe watch a movie or something while we worked. I thought he might like that better. _But then_ , I showed him my list of top suspects and he blew up at me. He went on this whole rant about how Gabriel Agreste and his assistant needed to be removed from the list.” Bug ranted, her eyes watered a little in frustration. Jason was still. Bug seemed to pick up on that and eye him cautiously.

“He’s still trying to push his feelings on you?” Jason kept his voice cool and even. Bug narrowed her eyes.

“J No! You promised you wouldn’t go talk to him. You promised that you wouldn’t try anything without my _express permission_!” Bug immediately protested and after looking into her desperate baby blue’s Jason knew he wasn’t doing shit without her consent. Even putting the boy in his place.

“ _Fine_.” Jason grumbled and Bug sighed in relief. The fact that she just trusted his word was not something he would fuck up for anything. 

“So what do you think? Besides the sulking teenage boy hormones.” Bug prompted after the silence that lasted a bit too long for her. 

“Well ain’t it obvious? Chat knows this Gabriel guy in his civies and probably cares about him. Chat’s like the same age as you right? Maybe he’s this guy’s kid or something.” Bug gave him an absolutely aghast look. Jason sighed.

“Time out. Emergency lesson kiddo. What number are we on?” Jason froze the conversation and Bug dutifully pulled out a small pen and notebook. 

“Fifty-four.” Bug replied without even an eye-roll. Jason’s emergency lessons covered extreme gaps in her education that were necessary for her survival that she didn’t know and needed to internalize. Bug didn’t question these lessons.

“Do you know how most superheroes and supervillains give away their secret identities?” Jason promoted. 

“They get unmasked?” Bug guessed slowly.

“Yes and no. The question is how do they get unmasked. Most secret ID’s aren’t lost by a mask getting ripped away in the heat of battle kiddo. I don’t know if I can even think of an example of that off the top of my head. Here’s how it happens. The hero or villain gets comfortable. They let little things slip here and there, never anything important, and never to the same person, but they build up. Chat reacting out of the norm to something about Agreste is a hint that he knows the man personally. From there, all a reporter has to do is look for blonde-haired, green-eyed kids between ages twelve and sixteen who have a connection to Agreste. From there they can look into suspicious disappearances during villain attacks and other evidence. You reacting negatively to the idea that Agreste’s kid is Chat is also a tell. I already know that you have a low opinion of Chat. By reacting like this, you are telling me that you actively like the Agreste kid. This means that you either know him personally or like him from afar. If it’s the first option, then I can find your identity. If it’s the second option, then I can hurt him to hurt you. Now, I’m usually not too concerned about you because the Miraculous protects your identity. But it cannot protect you from what is overtly obvious, or what you tell people. You need to watch what you say, and how you react to news that affects you. Especially if there is someone that you do not trust implicitly around.” By the time Jason wrapped up his lecture, Bug was white as a ghost. She nodded slowly, and after another moment of absorbing his speech, she began writing furiously in her notebook, committing it all to law. 

“Now Bug, remind me how serious of a priority Agreste is on your list of suspects.” Jason demanded seriously.

“Very High. Top thirty.” Bug mumbled quietly.

“If Chat asks again, you tell him what you think he needs to know, but remember this. People do dumb shit when they’re too close to a case. In fact, make that rule fifty-five.” Jason told her softly.

“The Guardian knows Chat’s ID right? Talk to him about this. But you need to come to a decision on what you are going to tell Chat next time you see him. Either present him with all the evidence and trust that he’ll take you seriously, or you tell him that he was right and that Gabriel Agreste is not a suspect. But if you think that for one second he’s going to have a hard time choosing between siding with you, or siding with Agreste, remember the power of the ring. Chat is not just your goofy friend, or slacking partner. He holds the power of destruction in his fist. Keeping both his and your miraculous out of Hawkmoth’s hands is the only thing stopping calamity. If you think for even one second that Chat might betray you to Hawkmoth, _take the ring_. Do you understand me Bug?” Bug looked slightly nauseous. 

“I know it ain’t easy, but these are the kinds of choices people like you are going to have to make. You’re a smart kid with solid instincts. I don’t know shit about Chat. It’s up to you to decide if you can trust him, and it's up to you to decide who is worthy to be your partner.” Jason finished by walking up to her and giving her a hug.

“Sorry I stressed you out Bug. If you want, I’ll still show you that grappling move. If not, we can get some food and have a late-night snack. You can’t go back to Paris like this though. You’re going to have to turn that frown upside down before you leave.” Jason murmured a couple more apologies before Bug pulled herself together. 

“Thanks, J. You’re right. I think that I needed to hear that. But can we maybe take the rest of the night off? I think I’m going to need some time to get my head together before we go back.” Bug spoke softly.

“How about I go grab some food and you have a nice long chat with Tikki. She’s bursting at the seams to tell you something, but’s trying to wait for us to finish our sappy feelings moment.” Bug glanced back to her Kwami who did indeed look ready to explode and smiled slightly.

“Okay. That sounds good.” Bug murmured. 

“I’ll be back in twenty minutes.” Jason declared and left them to have some time to think about what he had to say.

That kid was growing up way too fast for his liking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Sorry if this got a little bit salty toward Chat. I love him a lot, but he's a home schooled marshmallow who is learning social skills on the fly. I can't help but wonder how he'd react if Ladybug went after his father. . . What do you think?


	3. Chapter 3

May 

Jason stared at his phone.

From Unknown 15:36: I need to talk to you as soon as you are free. I need a really big favor.

This message had been sent two days ago and today was the first chance that he’d had to get away from his sharpshooting instructor. The man had taken Jason with him on a contract and Jason had been so wrapped up, that this was his first chance to meet. Bug refused to tell him what was wrong over text. There was nothing in Paris news to hit at some big battle recently. Ladybug had taken down an Akuma yesterday, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Well, Chat Noir hadn’t shown up, but there was a new superhero helping her. A turtle wielder with suspiciously blonde hair and green eyes. The news hadn’t announced the new player’s name, but Jason already suspected that it would something particularly ridiculous.

Ladybug didn’t really need the help these days, so Jason was fairly certain that she had not brought an entirely new player into the field. She was on an entirely different level from Chat Noir, Carapace, and Rena Rouge and everyone knew it. Outside of Chat, Bug usually only called on Ryuko due to her formal combat training. From what Bug had told him, the girl was an Olympic level athlete and was trained to defend herself from a young age due to her parents being high profile business people. She did call on Viperion and Queen Bee occasionally, but Viperion was not allowed into combat. Viperion’s job was to observe and strategize when shit hit the fan. Queen Bee, on the other hand, was special. She had no formal skills, but was the first hero to ever ask for Ladybug to help train her and was driven to improve herself more than anyone outside of Ladybug. After keeping up Jason’s diet and exercise schedule for three months without so much as a complaint, Bug had introduced them and Jason gave her some training grudgingly. There was no need for the girl to learn to fight, but she was so damn starved for positive attention that Jason couldn’t deny her.

The portal opened in a flash and Bug stepped through, sagging in visible relief when she saw him. As soon as the portal closed, she flung herself at him. Jason returned the hug and found himself supporting her meager weight when she basically turned to jelly in his arms. Exhaustion hung off her in waves and he felt a damp spot form on his chest. Alarm coursed through him. 

“What’s wrong Bug?” He demanded in a panic.

“Master Fu’s dead.” She whispered into his chest. Jason stiffened. 

“Shit. Are you okay?” He asked softly.

“I’m the guardian now. J I am literally the only one left to protect the balance of the universe. And I already blew it.” She added as she started crying. Jason hated that the only time she was allowed to let her emotions out was when she was outside of Paris.

“What happened?” Jason asked slowly.

“He had a- a- heart attack. I found him after it-. I was the one to find him and- Wayzz was there and he told me to take the turtle from him and- and to take the rest of the miraculous ‘cause he wasn’t gonna make it.” Bug choked and started sobbing again, all Jason could do was wrap her in his arms.

“So I did, and Wayzz and Tikki told me that I needed to take them and go because I couldn’t be there for him 'cause when he- when he died I was gonna inherit the title and they said it was going to be messy and I needed to be alone. So I called an ambulance, and took the box, and the book, and Kaalki gave me a ride to that lighthouse in Italy that you showed me. And then we waited. We waited until the title passed on and I felt it-. I felt it happen and then it was over and I didn’t know what to do. He was so old Jason. He wanted to pass on for so long but he couldn’t because there was no one else he trusted to take the title. Ever since he named me his heir, I could see it coming. His energy was just. Depleting. He knew he could pass on so he did and he left me _alone_. And I already screwed it up.” Bug was sobbing as she poured out her story to him. 

“I’m sorry Bug. Ya know you’re not alone right? Ya got me, and your parents, and Ryuko, and Queenie, and Viperion.” Jason muttered and let her cry it out.

“But I already screwed it up, J. I almost ruined everything. Master Fu was wrong to choose me.” She protested. Jason patiently waited for her to get her thoughts together.

“I- I went back to my house and my parents knew I was upset, but I couldn’t tell them what happened. And then- My mom got akumatized. She threw herself in front of an akuma that came for me.” Bug whispered softly. 

“She wanted to protect me from the world and tried to lock me up. If- it hadn’t been for Ryuko, mom would’ve found the box, and it all would have been over. The only reason she even had her miraculous is because I gave it to her for the weekend. My parents wanted to go on a family vacation so I let her hold on to it just in case of emergencies for the weekend. If it weren’t for that, we would have lost.” Jason felt his heart sink as she spoke.

“Aww Bug. That wasn’t your fault.” Jason’s heart was breaking for the poor girl. They spent a long time just sitting there, Bug just taking comfort in his presence, and Jason murmuring reassurances. Finally, she pulled herself away and gave him a strange look. Then, she de-transformed, shedding Kaalki’s costume. Jason flinched and looked away, closing his eyes.

“Bug!” He hissed. She wasn’t wearing her mask. 

“Tikki said that I’m the Guardian now and I need to decide what kind of Guardian I’m going to be. I trust you J. And I need to ask you something. Not as Ladybug, as Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the new Guardian of the Miraculous.” Bug-Marinette spoke softly. Jason swore. 

“I’m a bad person Bug. We talked about this, you can’t trust me.” Jason hissed, trying to mentally erase everything he just saw and heard from his memory. A small hand brushed his cheek and he opened his eyes. Shit. She looked so desperate. 

“I trust you J. More than anyone else. I’m so sorry to ask you this, but I can’t think of anyone else to trust.” Whatever she was about to ask, Jason needed to say no. He was so bad for her. Looking into her eyes though, Jason knew he would agree to literally anything she asked.

“What do you need Bug?” He forced himself to say. She shuffled slightly then reached into her shirt and pulled out- _Oh hell no_.

“No Bug. You can’t ask me to do this.” Jason hissed out, stepping back, away from her. In her hand was a black ring, it had been hanging from a silver chain around her neck. She took the chain off and held it out to him.

“I’m not asking you to come to Paris J. I’m actually asking the opposite. My mom getting akumatized was a wake-up call. If anything happens to me, Hawkmoth will get the earrings. Chat Noir doesn’t stand a chance against him, not without me. I know who all the heroes of Paris are, if I get akumatized, then Hawkmoth will know who all the heroes are. I don’t know who you are J. But I trust you with my life, with the fate of the cosmos. If Hawkmoth takes my earrings, there’s no way he could ever find you, even with everything I know. If Hawkmoth comes for the ring, you would never let him take it. You taught me to have contingencies and this is it. Keep it safe, never use it. There’s no one else I can trust.” Her eyes were so sad, desperate, and hopeful. Those eyes shattered his resolve like nothing else could.

“This is a bad I idea Bug-” Jason started to say.

“You can call me Marinette.” Bug interrupted with big sad doe eyes.

“I’m not good, Bug. I’ve killed people. I killed six people this week. That’s why I couldn’t answer your text right away. I’m training to kill more people. That’s why I’m traveling around. My mentor works for a secret group of cutthroat assassins. She’s teaching me to be a weapon that can kill superheroes. I agreed to this life Bug. I am so bad for you, you don’t even see it. You can’t give me the power of destruction. I’ve spent the past two years of my life training to kill someone who betrayed me. I’m not going to stop either, not until he’s dead. Don’t give me those eyes. You need to take this ring and give it to someone good. Someone good and trustworthy and safe. Hell, give it to Queenie. Fire her from superhero duty and make her your emergency backup. She’s a good kid.” Jason regretted telling her this, but Bug needed to know he was bad news, even if it made her never talk to him again. Her eyes had gone wide at the beginning of his speech and started to water as he told her the truth.

Then her arms were around his waist, and the words in his mouth died.

“I know you’ve done things J. I love you, and that’s not going to change. You’re my big brother and you’re a good person. Good people can do bad things. I’m barely fourteen. Master Fu gave me Ladybug just after I turned thirteen. I lied to Chat Noir because he wouldn’t trust my opinion on Agreste. Some of the police officers want to arrest me for vigilantism. Good people do bad things every day. I may not know everything you’ve done or everything you’re going to do, but I know that I trust you more than any other person on the planet and I know I want you to take this ring. I know I’m young. I know I’m going to make a lot of mistakes before this is over. But I know that this is not one of them. There is nothing you can say or do that will make me lose my faith in you. Please don’t leave me too.” Little _fourteen-year-old_ Bug sounded so sure of herself and her speech, up until the last line of her speech. Something in Jason cracked. 

“Bug please.” Jason didn’t know what he was even asking for.

“I need you J, don’t leave me.” She whispered, hugging him desperately.

“I don’t think I could even if I wanted to Bug.” Jason found himself replying. The tension immediately seeped out of the kid in front of him.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou.” She gasped as he grudgingly took the chain from her and tucked hooked it around his neck. Immediately, A black Kwami materialized in front of him. 

“I don’t see what all the fuss is.” The little cat said, giving him an unimpressed once over.

“Plagg! Can’t you see you’re interrupting something?” Tikki immediately started berating the creature. Plagg ignored her and stared at Jason.

“You have had some _really bad luck_. Did you _die_?” He asked bluntly, Tikki and Bug-Marinette gasped. Tikki tried to berate him for his rudeness more.

“Yeah. It didn’t stick though” Jason bared his teeth in a mockery of a grin at the little creature. Plagg chuckled.

“I like this one. You got any cheese?” He asked, switching his train of thought to his stomach. Jason could tell that this was going to take some getting used to.

. . .

July 

Jason stared out the window as his train pulled into Paris. He fiddled with the disk drive in his pocket. It made him nervous to be back, especially when he’d slipped under Talia’s radar. Marinette’s birthday was three days ago, and he wanted to give her this in person. 

He slipped into the crowd easily enough, and casually made his way through the station crowds, keeping his face faced away from the cameras. Marinette was in school right now. Probably feeling fairly isolated after the little she-bitch spread her lies and nearly got her expelled. That had been a bad day. Both of Marinette’s parents and half the student body had been akumatized. Ryuko had once again proved invaluable in distracting the villains with the help of a certain Tortue Noir, long enough for Marinette to escape and get Viperion and Queen Bee. Last he heard, Marinette was considering giving them their miraculous full time. 

Jason knew that she was spending a lot more time training her semi-permanent team. And while Jason missed seeing her, he was glad that she had allies she could rely on. Jason was turning eighteen next month and Talia was starting to hint that his training was nearly complete. He spent most of his time these days hunting human traffickers and drug dealers and far less time training under masters of their crafts. Jason couldn’t exactly give the ring back right now, but he was trying to figure out what he would do when he had his final showdown with Bruce. Jason liked to think he was a realist. The chances of walking away from killing Batman was slim. The chances of him walking away from killing both Batman and the Joker were even slimmer. 

Marinette’s school was up ahead of him and should be letting out any minute. Jason slipped into a cafe across the street and waited. He was halfway through his coffee when he saw the little bundle of sunshine walk out of school back hunched with her head down. _Aw hell no_. Jason tossed his cup and grabbed the Frappuccino he’d ordered for her and rushed out of the cafe. It only took a moment to catch up with the downtrodden girl. Jason sidled up next to her and kept pace, not saying anything. It took a solid fifteen seconds for her to look up in confusion. Then her eyes widened and she tripped over literally nothing. Jason, with far better reflexes, reached out and caught her arm, preventing her from crashing into the ground. Before he knew it, he had an armful of hyped-up teenage glee wrapping around him in a hug that was far stronger than anyone in her weight class should be able to manage. 

“J!” She squealed. 

“Heya Mari.” Jason grinned. 

“Ohmygoshwhatareyoudoingherehowdidyougethereithoughtyouwereinchina-” Mari started rambling without pausing to breathe or enunciate. Jason was good at French, but not that good. 

“Slow down kiddo. Here calm your shit.” Jason interrupted and put the drink into her vibrating hands, maybe caffeinated sugar was the wrong choice. Mari obediently took a sip and pulled herself together. Then he was being hugged again.

“What’re you doing here J?” She asked excitedly. 

“I got a birthday present for ya.” Jason grinned at her exuberance. Marinette looked excited for barely a moment before a confused expression crossed her face, then she looked up in alarm.

“Wait I thought you sent me those fashion show tickets. Was that you? Oh my gosh those were so sketchy I thought they were from you so I didn’t question them too much but if they weren’t-” Marinette started to get worked up until Jason held up a hand to stop her.

“Yeah, those were from me. You shoulda been questioning them as soon as you got them. Their delivery was sketchy as fuck. I didn’t know if I was going to make it out here, or if my other present would be ready.” Jason explained slowly as she relaxed and then beamed at him again. 

“Thanks for those tickets by the way! They arrived this morning and I was going to text you after school.” Mari smiled like the fucking sun at him.

“You need to be more suspicious of those kinds of things.” Jason grumbled as they started walking again. Mari grinned up at him, she was just over five feet tall now, having grown since they first met. Jason on the other hand, had just hit six feet tall and had finally filled out. He was nearly as big as Bruce now. 

“I’m never suspicious of you.” Mari smiled up at him happily.

“First of all, there are so many things wrong with that. Second of all, you didn’t know for sure they were from me.” Jason retorted after choking on his own spit. They walked a little bit further before Mari’s curiosity got the better of her. 

“So what’d you bring me?” She asked giving him excited puppy dog eyes.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jason grinned. 

“I would actually that’s why I asked.” She replied, grumpy. 

“I don’t know if you’ve earned it, what with forgetting all that goddamned paranoia that I distinctly remember teaching you.” Jason responded, trying to keep a grin off his face.

“Jaaaaaaay” Mari dragged out the letter pleadingly.

“I’ll be more careful next time. I promise I won’t take any more sketchy mail at face value.” Mari pleaded.

“You sure about that?” Jason asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I promise.” Mari nodded as seriously as she could manage.

“I suppose I might be willing to share this.” Jason pulled the disk drive out of his pocket enticingly. She looked excited before getting more curious.

“What is it.” She asked as Jason casually ducked off the street into an alley without cameras. Jason slipped it into her hand and it vanished into her purse a moment later.

“I had a guy I met make up some code for me. I put it together and made sure it was clean. Couldn’t hurt to double-check it though.” Jason muttered. Mari frowned for just a second, before her clever brain put the pieces together. Her eyes widened.

“Is this?” She gasped.

“A present for Ladybug. Marinette already got her present in the mail.” Jason smirked back.

“This is going to change everything.” Marinette whispered in an excited sort of awe. Jason had just handed her the last bit of coding that she couldn’t come up with on her own. It should be enough to get a rudimentary grid up and running. Jason ruffled her hair.

“Hopefully that'll help you finally find the tricky bastard soon.” Jason smiled. Mari nodded, but when she met his eyes, her smile faded slightly.

“What’s wrong.” She demanded.

“Nothing Bug. I’m here to celebrate your birthday. You only turn fifteen once you know.” Jason deflected, and pulled movie tickets out of his pocket with a flourish.

“If you had time, I thought we could have some fun before I need to head out again. I’m only here for the afternoon.” Mari frowned, but nodded. The tickets were for a cheesy horror movie, which started in twenty minutes.

Marinette didn’t ask him what was wrong again for the rest of the walk, during the movie, or afterward. Jason could tell that she was just trying to enjoy his presence for as long as she had it. She didn’t mention it after they left either, clearly trying to enjoy her time with him. It was getting later by the time they left the movie. Jason had every intention of walking her home, but paused at the smoke rising in the distance. He glanced at her, waiting for her to say something. Mari frowned.

“There’s no akuma alarms going off, so the city’s not under attack. It’s probably a regular fire.” She pulled out her phone to confirm and frowned. 

“A couple of my schoolmates are asking if I’m alright.” She muttered and opened her phone. She opened her news app, and stared, dumbfounded horror written across her face.

“What wrong Mari?” Jason asked glancing over her shoulder. _Oh hell_. The Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie caught fire an hour ago. 

“I- I- I need to go. Maybe Ladybug can-” Marinette started to stumble.

“No Mari. That fire started more than an hour ago. The article already says that the fire department has it under control. You need to go over there as you.” Jason interrupted, and waved down a taxi, gently ushering her inside and giving the cabbie his heading. Their arrival was interrupted by a blockade of police officers and firetrucks. The bakery was completely ablaze. Jason threw a wad of bills at the driver and the two raced toward the barrier.

“That’s my home! Where’re my parents?” Marinette shouted when an officer tried to stop her. The officer gave her the most pitying look, and Jason felt his insides turn to ice.

“Are you Marinette Dupain-Cheng? I can’t let you get too close, but I’m going to bring you over to the police chief okay?” The officer spoke gently, ready to usher her away without telling her what happened at all. Marinette was too clever not to come to the same conclusion he had. 

“No! Not until you tell me where my parents are! Where are they!” Mari shouted hysterically. Jason stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Mari we don’t know what happened yet. You need to calm down.” He tried to calm her. She lashed out, driving an elbow into his ribs and tried to pull away.

“No J! Not until he tells me where my parents are! Tell me!” Marinette screamed, her voice hoarse as she tried to pull away, and get at the officer. The officer looked horrified, but didn’t correct her assumptions. He noticed another officer run off to get help. 

“He’s just doing his job kiddo. Let him do his job. I’m here.” Jason didn’t say that it would be okay, knowing better than to spout that shit. But wrapped her in an inescapable hug and kept repeating ‘I’m here’ until she stopped fighting his hold and started sobbing in earnest. They were drawing stares from the onlookers, and Jason did his best to glare them all into submission, before ushering her away from their eyes.

“Where’s the box, Mari? The box might burn but the jewelry won’t. We can’t leave it in there.” Jason had to ask when they moved away from the man’s direct earshot. Mari shuddered.

“It’s at one of Fu’s safehouses.” Replied after several more promptings. If there was one thing Jason had learned from the Bat, it was to compartmentalize. He couldn’t do anything about Mari’s parents now, if they had been inside, the smoke would have already taken them long ago. He let out a breath, and glanced up. Several officers were making their way over to them. He was about to say something, but they all simultaneously tensed. One took a step back, but another raced forward. Jason heard a familiar fluttering and _moved_. 

He shoved a suddenly confused and teary Marinette backward, watching her fall in slow motion as he spun. A delicate purple butterfly flew through the spot she’d been a moment ago, and directly into his outstretched hand. Jason watched, as Marinette’s tear stricken face shifted into pure horror. The akuma merged with his glove and Jason’s training kicked in. He yanked they necklace off his hand without looking and tossed it toward Marinette. He cleared his mind in the way Batman had trained him to do with mindreaders. Every compromising thing he knew was shoved to the back corner of his mind and locked in a tight box. Darkness crept into the edges of his vision, as he internally erected wall after wall between the lockbox and his conscious thought. A voice rang through his mind

“Good evening, I am Hawkmoth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. So shout out to Justanother_Reader, Neakco, and all the other kind people who commented on my fic last chapter. I was having a bad day and you guys made me smile.


	4. Chapter 4

He was being watched. 

The police were all staring, the onlookers had started edging away from him. Mari was looking up at him in horror. He didn’t like that look. He gently took a step closer to her, watching her entire posture go rigid. Ever so slowly, he knelt in front of her and reached out. Little Mari flinched as his hand gently caressed her tear-soaked cheek.

“Why are you so sad Mari?” He asked gently. Her eyes glanced over to the police. White-hot rage flared up inside him.

“They made you cry, didn’t they. That’s riiiiight. Officer whatshisface wouldn’t tell you what you wanted to know, didn’t he? Do you want me to go have a word with him? I could make him talk. I could make him tell you whatever you wanted to know. I could make him _sing_ for you.” He murmured softly. Her eyes locked with his, there was horror there.

“No. I don’t want you to do that. You need to fight it, Jason.” She spoke, voice quivering.

“No. Of course, you don’t. Police are full of lies anyway. They have nothing worth hearing. Maybe I could change that. I could teach them a thing or two.” He pulled away launched himself at the group. The first didn’t get a chance to react before he grabbed the man with his gloved hand and tossed him aside. The man crashed to the ground and curled up into a ball, sobbing. The second reached for his baton, maybe he should know what a baton really _felt_ like. He was inside his guard and grabbing him by his throat before the man could fight back. He shoved him back and the man went down screaming in pain. A third tried to tackle him, he grabbed the man and flipped him. By the time he hit the ground, the man’s eyes had glazed over.

“What are you doing Jason!” Marinette shouted, sounding panicked. He turned his attention back to her and tilted his head.

“You can call me Apathy, Marinette. I simply made them feel what I did. They want to be cops? Then they should know how many times the lovely law has failed. They should feel what it’s like to have your dad locked up, and your chance at life leave with him. To be beaten with a baton for lifting a drug dealer’s wallet. To be thrown down and dragged away from your mom while she’s dying. They need to know how it feels. I happen to have lots of things I don’t want to feel anymore. They can have them.” Apathy smiled at her. Mari looked so upset. That wouldn’t do at all. 

He _moved_ , closing the distance between them and grabbed her wrist as she tried to roll away. Mari tried to yank her hand away, but his grip was unrelenting. Apathy thought for a long moment, trying to remember something positive to share with his heartbroken little sister. 

_Ah, I know just the thing_.

Apathy gave her the feelings of contentment from when they got ice cream and she told him about her dream to design low-cost clothing that made people love themselves. Then the feelings of pure relaxation when they had a picnic by a lighthouse and watched the sunset over the Mediterranean. Next came the feeling of pride that came from the first time she successfully flipped him over her shoulder, and the amusement that came when she apologized afterward. Finally the feeling of pure familial love that came every time she hugged him and sought him out for comfort. Apathy couldn’t give her all of his feelings even if he had all the time in the world, there were simply too many of them. Still, he felt a little bit emptier after unloading all those memories, which was good. Apathy frowned. Mari was sobbing now instead of smiling.

“I don’t have anything else to give you Mari. You should be happier now.” Apathy murmured in concern.

“I love you too Jason, you need to fight this.” She begged, sounding desperate. 

“I’d fight anything for you, Mari.” Apathy replied without pause and frowned. He couldn’t fight death for her- well not without her parents’ bodies and a Lazarus pit. But he could fight her enemies for her. Apathy pulled the unresisting Marinette into his arms and kissed her on her forehead. 

“I’ll come back soon with some more good feelings for you. But I need to go do something else first.” Apathy murmured and leaped straight into the air, landing on the rooftop.

“ _Now get me the miraculous. If you want to get rid of all these pesky feelings, you need to defeat Ladybug and Ryuko for me._ ” Hawkmoth’s voice rang through his mind. His voice had a slight wobble to it, some of the confidence from when he first spoke was absent. Good. 

“But of course Hawkmoth.” Apathy replied and raced off across the rooftops. Apathy had the top ten people on Mari’s suspect list memorized, but he wasn’t going to think about the details, not with Hawkmoth on his head. The first person on his list was Erik Casanova, a rich widower who recently lost her daughter to cancer. Apathy could see him inside his condo from the roof across the street. Next was Henry Bisset. A landlord who lost his fortune just before Hawkmoth made his appearance. The man wasn’t in his apartment, but Apathy was able to give a group of men he caught selling drugs in the ally every nasty feeling he ever got from Poison Ivy’s toxin. See how they like a bad trip.

From there he moved onto the Agreste Manor.

“ _Where are you going Apathy? You should be looking for Superheroes, not wasting your time on the Agrestes._ ” Hawkmoth interrupted. At his particular wording, Apathy remembered that Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste. He shut down that train of thought before the why or how he knew re-entered his mind.

“ _What!?! How do you know this?_ ” Hawkmoth demanded, but Apathy ignored him. Apathy did not care what Hawkmoth wanted. He crashed through a second-floor window and found Adrien and his girlfriend sitting on a couch. They must have been doing homework. The girl gave him a fierce glare and pulled out a fencing sword, trying to put herself between him and Adrien.

“ _They’re just kids! Not superheroes! They are not your mission_!” Hawkmoth shouted in his mind. Apathy smiled. He launched himself at the girl, dodged her thrust, and connected his hand with her wrist. He gave his lack of energy. Those mornings when he just did not have the mental strength to get out of bed. The inability to do more than curl up under his ratty sheets and wait it out. The sword fell from her hands and lost the will to fight. Apathy kept moving, the boy had a textbook that he tried to use to push him away from his girlfriend. Girlfriends were dangerous kiddo. Apathy moved into his space and gripped the kid by the back of his throat. Jason gave him the feeling of knowing he messed up. It wasn’t his fault and no one believed him and now they were all going to abandon him. They were going to leave him alone all alone in the world because they didn’t trust his word when he said that he _didn’t_ push that man, he fell on his own. 

Apathy pulled away before he could accidentally give him the feeling of watching a man die and knowing you were a second too slow to save him. He wanted the kid to feel abandoned like Ladybug did when he was late or useless. The kid had already curled up into a ball and started rocking back and forth on the ground. 

Hawkmoth was screaming something in his ear, but Apathy ignored him, he didn’t care and getting rid of these feelings was freeing. He felt his powers begin to fade away, but that just wouldn’t do. He gave the powers a mental _tug_ and took control again. Hawkmoth was desperately trying to assert dominance and take back control, but the only one in control here was Apathy. 

Apathy stared down at the quivering mess of a boy. The doors to the study he was in burst open and _Mayura_ of all people barged in. At her side was an animated suit of armor. 

Apathy smiled. 

He raced forward, dodging another sword swing and slammed into the armor. It crashed aside, but Mayura was already moving. She launched herself into a leaping kick. Apathy intercepted her like the highly trained assassin he was. Compared to him, she was but an unblooded novice. He caught her foot and slammed her into the ground. There was fear in her eyes. Fear of him. Fear for the kid. Fear for Hawkmoth. Apathy could show her real _fear_. He unloaded every feeling he’d ever experienced from fear gas into her at once. Mayura convulsed and dropped to the floor _screaming_. 

Calmly, uncaringly, Apathy reached down and plucked the peacock miraculous from her chest. _Perhaps this could make Mari smile._ Apathy thought, ignoring Hawkmoth’s now desperate screams for him to stop. Well, Apathy had found the right house, that was for certain. 

“J! What have you done?” Ladybug cried out in horror as she swung into the building. Behind her was Queen Bee and Viperion, both looked horrified. Mayura was still on the floor screaming. Apathy held up the peacock miraculous and all three froze in shock. 

“She was Mayura. You were right Bug, Hawkmoth is Gabriel Agreste.” Apathy explained and casually walked up to Ladybug, the other two tensed, and he noticed Viperion holding his bracelet in anticipation. He gently took Ladybug’s hand, and she let him, much to Queen Bee’s horror. Apathy placed the miraculous in her hand.

“Will this make you smile again?” He asked, eyes never leaving hers. He was honestly curious to see if it would finally take that frown off her face. His Bug should never be sad. If only Apathy could take feelings away. But alas, he could only free himself of such feelings.

“No, J. I don’t think I’ll be able to smile again until you give me your glove.” Ladybug replied calmly. 

“Oh. Okay then. You can have it.” Ladybug looked surprised and hopeful all at once. 

“But first I need to stop Hawkmoth. That way you never have to feel stressed, or afraid, or sad because of him. Let me free you from him, Bug.” Apathy requested. Ladybug didn’t so much as flinch when he brought his hand up to her cheek and rubbed a stray tear away. Ladybug closed her eyes. She brought her hand up and laid it over his. Her grip tightened over his hand. 

“I can’t let you do that J. Not as you are now. I’m sorry J, I know you only want to help me.” Ladybug whispered softly. Apathy nodded in understanding. 

“Of course Ladybug. Always do what you feel is right.” They hesitated a moment longer, then Bug was attempting to yank the glove off him and Queen Bee was throwing herself at him, with her stinger ready to paralyze him. He shoved Ladybug back and caught Queenie, spinning her and throwing her into Viperion. The duo crashed to the ground and Bug whipped her yoyo at him. 

“Lucky Charm!” Just as an item materialized into the air, a textbook collided with it, smashing the object, sending both the textbook and the smashed remains of whatever it was careening out the window. Ladybug glanced back to the two on the ground and found Queenie recovering from where she’d paralyzed Viperion. 

“Activate his miraculous!” Ladybug shouted, but she was too late. Apathy had already closed the distance and tossed Queenie aside. He let the yoyo crash painfully into his side, and instead yanked the bracelet off the kid’s wrist, the kid de-transformed. Ladybug had taken his advice to heart, because even without the miraculous, the kid was still wearing a turquoise domino mask under the costume, with no identifiable clues visible on his still form. He tossed the bracelet to Ladybug and grabbed Queenie as she tried to tackle him. Holding onto the girl, he dodged a kick from Ladybug and wrapped the line from her spinning top around her thrice in quick succession, trapping her in her own line. Apathy touched his hand to Queenie’s uncovered neck and gave her the feeling from when he was sick some years ago. Everything was confusing and bleary, and he wanted to go on patrol, but Bruce had wrapped him up in a blanket, trapped him in soft warmth, and told him to sleep in a firm voice that brokered no disobedience. He had immediately felt so warm, tired and comfortable in his arms, that he’d fallen asleep within minutes. He tossed the now trapped and weakly struggling girl aside and moved onto Ladybug.

Ladybug looked absolutely terrified. He ducked and dodged several hits in quick succession before jabbing out, and touching her unprotected forehead with his glove. Her eyes lost focus as she was bombarded with feelings of love. Even as they were fighting just a moment ago, he had new feelings of love and pride in her accomplishments and skill as Ladybug. Apathy released those feelings into her and added several more feelings of amusement, glee, and happiness from their time training together. He gave her every bit of happiness he could recall and didn’t quite notice several warm feelings from his time with Bruce, Alfred, and Dick slip through. When he did, Apathy realized that it was wonderful to be free of the happy memories from his time with the Bats. It made the feelings of hate and rage so much easier to bear. So he kept giving them to his Bug. 

Selfishly tossing away every happy feeling they had ever given him onto her. It made hating Bruce so much easier to bear. At some point, a memory slipped through. His eighth birthday. His mom had been completely sober for the entire morning. She’d just gotten her unemployment check and splurged on some discounted doughnuts and a superwoman action figure as a birthday present. He’d never felt more loved by her than in that moment. He loved her more than the sun and the stars. That feeling of pure unadulterated love vanished from him as he gave it to her. 

Distantly, Apathy realized part of him screamed and rebelled at the loss of those feelings. But Apathy just didn’t care. It made the feelings of loss, disappointment, and rage easier. Apathy pulled away from Ladybug before those slipped out. Ladybug didn’t need any more of that right now. Only good feelings. 

Ladybug fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. That wasn’t right.

“Those were supposed to make you happy Bug.” Apathy stated with a frown.

“I won’t be happy until you give me that glove J.” She retorted weakly from the ground. Apathy sighed. He couldn’t give that to her yet. He had a couple more feelings to toss away. He couldn’t give them to Ladybug or any of the kids. Only bad people like him would ever deserve feelings like these. Apathy wanted to be _free_. That wouldn’t happen until he unloaded these particular emotions onto someone else. Someone who deserved them almost as much as him. 

Apathy left Ladybug on the ground in the study. Queenie was asleep and Viperion was still paralyzed. Ladybug was there though, and she had Viperion’s bracelet. Ladybug was more than strong enough to protect them while he had a chat with Hawkmoth. 

He stepped out of the study and found the man waiting for him. Just on the other side of the door. 

“You defeated Ladybug. Why did you not take her miraculous?” He demanded furiously as he tried to take control of him. Apathy smiled, the coward hoped to prey on Ladybug after he had brought her to her knees. That would not be happening.

“You care for her, don’t you. She’s the girl, isn’t she? The one who you intercepted the akuma for. Your ability to mask your memories is impressive, but your emotions gave her away Apathy.” Hawkmoth smiled grimly as if he had just said something particularly funny. Or ironic. 

“Then you can have them.” Apathy declared and moved. 

This man was more skilled than Apathy had expected, but not nearly skilled enough. He swung his cane-sword, attacking him viciously, and with reckless abandon. Apathy ducked and dodged with practiced ease, deftly avoiding swings that fully aimed to maim, kill, or disembowel him. To Hawkmoth’s horror, Apathy pulled a large, vicious knife from his boot and went on the offensive. Their difference in skill quickly became apparent. Were it not for the protective armor of the miraculous, the man would have been skewered several times over. Apathy was patient. It did not matter if this battle took five seconds, five minutes, or five hours, he would defeat Hawkmoth. 

When the inevitable opening came, Apathy took it, slamming his knee into Hawkmoth’s ribs and shoving his hand around Hawkmoth’s throat. Without hesitation, Hawkmoth suddenly experienced what it was like to be betrayed by your biological mother. To be beaten to death with a _crowbar_ while she watched. Eyes Apathetic to your struggle. To see the apathetic eyes of your mother hold a gun to your head and give you to a serial killer. To feel those apathetic eyes as your legs break, as your chest caves, as your heart slows. To fight desperately to save those apathetic eyes, even as the count shrinks and your body fails you. To know your father isn’t coming. To know those apathetic eyes will be the last thing you ever see. To feel your eardrums break, to feel the oncoming heat of your demise, to feel the life leave your body. 

To feel the insanity. To feel the hurt of knowing your death went unavenged. To feel the all-consuming rage. To invite the insanity in because anything was better than feeling the betrayal of the only person who thought you were worth saving. 

Even as those feelings left and Apathy was blessedly free of them, those apathetic eyes remained. Apathy noticed the butterfly pin on his tie. It was polished so smooth he could see his reflection. Apathetic eyes now stared back at him. A wave of horror so strong it crashed through the numbness and shattered every bit of peace and freedom he had built coursed through his entire being. He wasn’t Apathy. 

_He could not be Apathy._

_She was Apathy. She was the cold unfeeling eyes that haunted his nightmares._

_He was_ not _Apathy_.

_He was Jason_.

Hawkmoth lay unmoving underneath him. His eyes were wide open, but unseeing. He yanked the butterfly pin free from Hawkmoth’s chest and watched an unresponsive Gabriel Agreste reveal himself to Jason. The fog of Apathy vanished and a white butterfly fluttered away from him. Jason blinked and tried to remember what had happened since he shoved Mari away from the akuma. He must have been akumatized. He glanced down at the butterfly pin in his hand and then at the open, unseeing eyes of Gabriel Agreste. Jason immediately checked his pulse. _He was alive_. 

Stumbling to his feet, Jason realized that he had no idea where he was. A soft sob sounded from the room behind him, and he rushed to investigate, more than a little apprehensive of what he’d find. He opened the door, ready for a fight, and stared, dumbstruck. Agreste’s assistant was lying on the ground in the same catatonic state as Agreste, a blonde boy was curled up in a corner rocking back and forth, a dark-haired girl sat on the ground, staring at the sword in her hands like she was considering cutting herself with, but couldn’t find the effort to do so. Across the room Viperion was on the floor, paralyzed. Queenie was passed out, and Ladybug- _Ladybug was sobbing._

She was sitting on the ground arms wrapped around her knees, sobbing her eyes out. She looked up at his entry and stared in hopeful disbelief.

“J? Is that you?” She asked, lip wobbling.

“Yeah, Bug. Did I do this?” He whispered, horrified. Then she dived at him, wrapping her arms around him.

“I love you too J. I love you so much. Don’t ever forget that.” She was crying again. Her earring beeped insistently after a moment. 

“I-uh, I love you too Bug. Uh, what happened? The last thing I remember was when I pushed you away from the akuma.” Jason muttered, feeling confused. Her earring beeped again. 

“You going to do anything ‘bout that Bug?” Jason muttered, and she yanked herself away from him. 

“Right. We need to go find my lucky charm.” She muttered, glancing out the window.

“What happened to it?” Jason found himself asking.

“You kind of knocked it out the window before I could even see what it was. But that’s not important, we need to find it and undo… this.” She waved her hand around the room weakly and avoided looking at the assistant. 

“How did you get free of the Akuma? Oh My Gosh. Where is it? We cannot let it get away.” Ladybug looked so honestly terrified at the thought, that Jason’s eyes narrowed. _What did he do?_

“I came to over an unconscious Gabriel Agreste with this in my hand. A white butterfly popped out of my glove at the same time.” Jason explained and showed her the Butterfly miraculous. Ladybug gasped and took it reverently.

“Him changing back must have undone his akuma. Oh wow.” Ladybug whispered and put the broach in her yoyo tardis. Then she hopped out the window. Jason glanced down at her two stories below pulling something out of a bush. Then, magic restoration ladybugs shot off in every direction, repairing everything it touched, including the hole where the window had been. Queenie groaned beside him and sat up holding her head.

“You are one scary villain, you know that? Are you alright?” She muttered groggily, giving him a once over.

“I should be asking you that.” Jason retorted, helping her to her feet. He moved to help Viperion, but he seemed to be much better off than Queenie. He glanced over to the other three people. Blondie had stopped rocking, but he was still curled up in a tight ball. Blackie had dropped her sword and was scooting away from it fearfully. 

“Are you okay?” Queenie started to ask, but her hairpin flashed insistently. 

“We need to go, Viperion.” She muttered nervously. The assistant still hadn’t opened her eyes. Viperion grabbed Queen Bee’s hand and shoved her toward the door.

“We can send help over here in a minute but we need to go before you turn back too.” He ordered and Jason moved with them. They both froze at the sight of a still catatonic Gabriel Agreste. And skirted around him. The three barely got out of the building and tucked around the corner when Queen Bee transformed. She too was wearing a yellow domino mask, but she was still wearing her iconic clothes underneath her costume. Ladybug dropped down next to them a moment later. Her earrings were back to full power. 

“I called an ambulance. The authorities will be here soon, we need to talk. Privately.” With that, she swung both of her part-time heroes away from the scene, and Jason followed using his own skills. 

By the time he caught up with them, Ladybug had returned from the Agreste house with a black necklace and a green bracelet in her hand. Bug had such a defeated look in her eye that Jason wanted to wrap her up in his arms and apologize for whatever he did while akumatized. The girl must have been Ryuko, Jason realized feeling even more guilty about whatever had happened. Bug sat down slowly, eyeing the other two heroes and Jason with apprehension. 

“Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth.” Ladybug started after a deep breath. Queenie sucked in a harsh breath, but Viperion didn’t look all that surprised. 

“And Nathanalie was Mayura. I have both their miraculous, but they’re still unconscious from whatever Apathy did to them. I told the police what happened, but aside from my story, the only proof is whatever they find in the house. Either way though, Hawkmoth is defeated. Gabriel Agreste can’t make anymore akumas without his miraculous. It’s time for the two of you to retire your mantles. I know this wasn’t how we thought it would end, and I’d be lying if I said that it felt like a victory, but I guess this is it.” Ladybug ended her briefing, giving each of the two teens a sad look. 

Viperion smiled sadly and pulled the turquoise domino mask off.

“You already have mine, right? Thank you Ladybug, for trusting me.” He spoke with a soft rhythmic grace and smiled at her. 

“I-I- I could still be Queen Bee you know. We could fight street crime. Maybe join the Justice League or something.” The blonde started tearing up.

“It doesn’t have to end here.” She tried. Ladybug gave her a sad smile and wrapped her up in a hug. 

“You’ll always be Queen Bee, Chloe. She’s part of who you are. You don’t need to run around fighting crime to prove that.” Chloe lost it and started sobbing into Ladybug’s shoulder. 

“You’re leaving aren’t you. You’re going to run off with _him_ and we’ll never see you again.” Chloe sobbed.

“Yes I’m leaving, but I’m the Guardian now, it’s my duty to protect the miraculous and I don’t think that I can do it from here any longer. I don’t know if we’ll ever see each other again, but I promise that if I ever need a Bee wielder, you’ll be the first person I call. The same goes for you, Viperion. As long as you want to be miraculous wielders, you’ll be the first I call on. No matter where I go.” Ladybug promised, and Chloe slowly got herself back under control. Then, she pulled her hair clip off and handed it to her. 

“Thank you Ladybug. You believed in me and I’ll never forget that.” Chloe looked like she was going to start sobbing again any minute now.

“Thank you, all of you.” Ladybug gave them a watery smile and stood on shaky legs. Jason stood with her and she hurled her yoyo off into a nearby building, wrapped an arm around his waist, and the two of them were soaring away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened. Ummmmm yeah. Hope you enjoyed?


	5. Chapter 5

August

Talia Al Ghul silently slipped into the safe house, leaving no trace of her entry. Jason had slipped off the radar for six weeks. _Six weeks_. She hadn’t been concerned at first, the boy was growing into himself, taking independent jobs, finding his own prey, and getting into his own trouble. However, her agents were usually able to pick up his trail after a few days, a week at most. This time, Jason was intentionally covering his tracks so that she specifically would have to go out of her way to hunt him down again. 

Resurfacing six weeks later in China had been a bit of a surprise. Resurfacing with a young, mixed-race Chinese girl, had been fluxoming. Sure enough, the girl was completely passed out on a mattress in the corner of the small bedroom. Jason was hunched over a small table, meticulously cleaning a pistol that looked like it had taken a swim through a sewer. Without warning, he tensed and whipped around, an assembled identical-looking pistol pointed at her chest. Talia raised a single eyebrow. Jason stared, before sighing and lowering the weapon. 

“I was wondering when we’d see you.” Jason spoke quietly, so as to not wake the sleeping girl. 

“I see you picked up a stray.” Talia stated, tone making the demand for answers obvious. 

“She’s with me now. We just finished our business here. She’s coming with me to Gotham.” Jason stated, and Talia tensed.

“She will be a distraction, one you cannot afford when it comes time to face _him_ in combat. I have not invested two years into your training for you to blow this because of a _child_.” Talia retorted, incensed. Jason scowled.

“She’s not gonna slow me down. The kiddo is stronger than she looks.” He cut himself off before he could say more, the child was waking up.

“Jay?” She called out sleepily. 

“We have Company kiddo.” Jason addressed the girl in English, causing Talia to re-evaluate exactly when and where he picked this child up.

“What’s going on?” She replied in English, with a slight French accent. Even more curious.

“This is Talia, the one I told you about.” Jason had told this child about her, Talia anger died down, more curious than mad at this point. Jason had somehow built a close enough bond with this child to trust her with information so sensitive, she could be killed for breathing so much as a word of it to anyone. The girl seemed to startle into full awareness at that, examine Talia with much more scrutiny. Then, to Talia’s bafflement, the girl beamed at her.

“Hello Ma’am, it’s so nice to meet you. Jason told me that you helped him through a very rough patch in his life.” The girl bubbled and scrambled off the mattress to shake her hand. Talia accepted the greeting with weary confusion.

“And you are?” Talia replied cooly. The girl glanced over at Jason, looking for some kind of permission, then smiled at her.

“My name is Mary Wang. Would you like a cookie?” She bowed slightly in her introduction, and scrambled to her backpack, pulling a small tin of cookies out. Talia stared at the girl until she dimmed slightly.

“I will have to pass, thank you.” Talia replied at the same time Jasons made an offended noise.

“Where the hell have you been hiding those? I thought you ran out a week ago.” He sounded like an indignant cat. Mary stuck her tongue out at him childishly.

“This is my emergencies only stash. If you knew where I was hiding it, it would have run out ages ago.” The girl responded instantly.

“Then why the hell are you offering them to _her_?” Jason grumbled testily.

“Because that’s how you make _friends_ Jay. I know politeness is a strange concept for you, but I was raised with _manners_.” The girl replied sassily before her smile dimmed. Something in Talia’s chest constricted at the look on her face. It was that moment, that Talia knew Jason would follow this girl to the ends of the Earth. Talia had known this child barely five minutes and was grudgingly charmed by her. Jason clearly knew her far longer, and her charm combined with his weak spot for kids was no doubt a deadly combination.

“You okay kiddo?” Jason asked worriedly, confirming her revelation.

“Yeah. It’s just- It just kind of hit me again.” The girl looked like she was going to cry. Rather than the annoyance that usually accompanied visual displays of weakness, Talia felt the smallest urge to comfort her, almost like she would Damian when he was distraught. 

“Aww Kiddo, maybe you should lay back down.” Jason sounded so genuinely sad for the child as she shook her head, determined.

“No. I’m fine, I just needed to breathe for a minute.” The child responded morosely.

“Maybe _you_ should eat a cookie.” Jason suggested, and that earned him an uptick of her lips. 

“They’re for emergencies only Jay. Like when we run out of food or meet a new friend.” The child protested. The reminder of a ‘new friend’ seemed to draw Jason’s attention back to Talia.

“Right. So we finished up our business here, and we’re going to make our way to Gotham soon. Then I’ll find somewhere to stash the kid, probably in Metropolis, and then I’ll get to work on the plan.” Jason explained, and the girl immediately began protesting.

“No you are most certainly _not_ going to ‘ _stash the kid’_ I am coming with you Jay. You can’t stop me. I’ve been trained by the best after all.” The girl made honest to god air quotes around words and lowered her voice in a mimicry of Jason.

“Kid, we talked about this, you can’t stomach the kinda hell I’m gonna raise in Gotham.” Jason protested, this was clearly a long-standing argument.

“You have no clue what I can handle Jay. Besides, you need me. How are you gonna take on the Batman _and_ his Robin by yourself? I’m gonna be your Robin. I can see it now, Red Hood and Hoodlum, partners in crime.” The kid said with a grin. Jason choked on the name _Hoodlum_. Talia was still reeling though, just how much had Jason told this kid?

“No. Just no. Your puns are terrible. You are not a Hoodlum, if you call yourself that, you’re gonna get laughed outta the city. Why would you even say that? Jesus Christ.” This was a new look that Talia had never seen on Jason before. Somewhere between embarrassed, horrified, and exasperated. 

“Excuse you, my plans are great. You should know, they have like, a ninety-eight percent success rate.” The girl waved her hand dismissively, like his concerns were nothing to worry about. Talia was nearly over her shock, and edging toward fascination with this child. Jason glanced at Talia’s face and scowled. 

“Oh no, don’t you go looking at her like that. She’s mine. I saw her first. Get your own.” Jason growled. Talia schooled her face into her most passive expression.

“Hey! I’m not a thing! I’m a person.” The girl hissed back.

“You’re a bundle of sunshine and rainbows is what you are. Don’t try ta lie to me.” Jason retorted with a snort. He was still eyeing Talia suspiciously, like he expected her to snatch the child up and run away with her. 

“Why do you keep saying that?” The girl grumbled with a pout. 

“Because it’s the truth.” Jason retorted. The pair seemed like they were about to devolve into meaningless bickering, so Talia decided to intervene.

“When will you be returning to Gotham?” She asked curiously. There was a pause in conversation, as Jason considered this. 

“We’re gonna make a stop in India, there’s a temple that the kiddo wants to check out there. But that shouldn’t take too long. We should touch down in Gotham sometime next month. It’s gonna take a while to get shit going there so expect to hear from me in maybe. . . Two months?” Jason guessed, he seemed more casual and far less anxious about being reunited with the Bats than he was before. Talia wasn’t quite sure if that meant anything good or bad yet, but she suspected that time would tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for the epilogue! Part two is a long way out yet, but the party's officially moving to Gotham! Woot woot!


End file.
